Writing Quotes

To hone my voice, I read everything, from books to cereal boxes, three times: once for fun, the second time to learn something new about the writing craft, and the third time was to improve that piece.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

Writing is really a way of thinking–not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic or just sweet.

Writing for me is a kind of compulsion, so I don’t think anyone could have made me do it, or prevented me from doing it.

That’s just a part of being an artist: you can’t write great stuff all the time, because if you did, then you’d be inhuman. The human side of people is that sometimes they fail.

You don’t necessarily have to write to be a poet. Some people work in gas stations and they’re poets. I don’t call myself a poet, because I don’t like the word. I’m a trapeze artist.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

We were more than merely a product of luck, we were written by the gods.

[on sexual politics] The Golden Rule works for men as written, but for women it should go the other way around. We need to do unto ourselves as we do unto others.

I write poetry in my sleep because you only visit me in my dreams.